Concepción Arenal

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Transcript of Concepción Arenal

The Life of Spain's Feminist Founder Concepción Arenal Early Life of Arenal The Legacy of Concepción Arenal Arenal was born in a neighborhood called Ferrol Vello on January 31st of 1820. Mujeres en la historia In 1848 Arenal had graduated from university and married writer and lawyer Fernando García Carrasco. Marriage and Children Feminism in Modern Day Spain Concepcion Arenal died the morning of February 4th, 1893 in Vigo. She was buried in Vigo a day later. Upon her gravestone her personal motto is written "To virtue, to life, to science." At age eight Arenal's father died in prison. He had been sent to prison for his liberal ideology, which went against the absolute monarchy of King Ferdinand VII. Concepción Arenal, la fuerza de un ideal Education of Arenal In 1841, against her mother's wishes Arenal entered the Faculty of Law of the Central University; now the Complutense University of Madrid. She graduated from the University in 1848 In attending the university Arenal became the first women in Spain to attend university. She was forced to wear masculine attire while attending. Also she attended political and literary debates, which was unheard of for a women at that time. Together they had three children: a daughter who died shortly after birth, and two sons Fernando born in 1850 and Ramón born in 1852. In later years when Arenal's health became a concern she lived with her son Fernando and his second wife Ernestina Winter. Feminism In 1859 Arenal founded the feminist group called the Conference of Saint Vincent de Paul in order to help those less fortunate. Two years later Arenal received an award from the Acadmey of Moral Sciences and Politics for her work with the poor. This is the first time the Academy gave an award to a women. Due to the restrictive government in Spain feminism is still in its infancy but hopefully as more freedom is given to the people, women will begin to demand equality. However feminist ideology is supposed to be very advanced in Spain because of these restrictions, which makes the feminist movement in Spain is extremely important. She is considered the pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain. The Writing's of Arenal Is this what equality feels like? In Spain, there is a persistence of patriarchal attitudes and traditional stereotypes concerning the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in Spanish society. In her later years Arenal began to publish poetry books and essays. For example "Letter to delinquents" (1865), "Ode against slavery" (1866), "Convicts, the people and the executioner" (1867), and "The execution of the death sentence" (1867). In part because of her writings Arenal was named Inspector of Women's Correctional Houses in 1868. Then in 1871 she began a fourteen year collaboration with the magazine The Voices of Charity, which was Madrid-based. Some of Arenal's writings that dealt with the role and conditions of women in Spain include "The Women of the Future" (1869), "The education of women" (1883), "the current state of women in Spain" (1883), "the work of women" (1883), and "the woman of the house" (1883). There is a statue of Arenal has been erected in Madrid. As well the Library of Law, Political Sciences and Labour Relations of the University of Santiago de Compostela is named after Arenal. The achievements of Arenal opened the door for future generations of Spanish women, who unfortunately still have a long way to go.